Gosh, it seems like no matter what I do, I can't keep this thing current! It wasn't long after I made my last entry that I got called from the new cardiologist, she was scheduling me and appointment. I was relieved, but unfortunately there were no openings until April 6th, so I had to wait a-whole-nother month before meeting her.

She was great, I'm so glad to have gotten a second opinion. She asked me what exactly brought me to her and I tried to go through my medical history without things getting too muddled, but nothing is ever straight forward with me and this so I think she got a little confused a couple of times. She definitely agreed that "You'll be fine" is not an appropriate response, especially when the clinical data is indicating that's not the case! So first off, that made me feel validated and not just like a picky patient. Even though I know I have every right to complete and competent medical care, I still feel a little guilty sometimes for switching doctors. It's weird because I wouldn't have a single qualm counseling someone in my shoes to do exactly what I did. I make a much better nurse than patient! After she listened to my story the first thing she said was "Okay, you need to be on a medication called Carvedilol" and from then on out I knew I was in good hands. That was exactly what I was hoping to hear, I really wanted to get on the beta blocker since the combination of a beta blocker and an ACE-Inhibitor are the standard treatment for cardiomyopathies with symptoms of CHF. She also had an appropriate schedule for increasing my dose. I started at 3.125mg twice a day, and then doubled each dose after one week. She said that if I was having trouble with low blood pressure the first thing she would do is lower my dosage of Lisinopril so I could keep going as much as possible with the Carvedilol. Which is also exactly what I wanted to hear!

When I started taking the Carvedilol it was interesting because I definitely felt worse for a few days at first. More shortness of breath and some chest pain. I asked some of the ladies in the PPCM support group and several said they experienced the same thing any time they increased dosage. I moved up to 6.25mg pretty well, with the 3-day dip again. Feeling pretty fatigued most days, usually have had to take a nap when Ben does. I stayed on the 6.25mg dose for almost 3 weeks and by that time was feeling a little less fatigued than I did in the beginning.

Had a follow up with Dr. Park last week and we are doubling the dose again, from 6.25mg to 12.5mg. She wants me to double one dose at a time, the PM dose for one week, then start doubling the AM dose as well. She told me she wants me to stay at 12.5mg for a couple of months before she starts to "really get aggressive". She did indicate to me that it might not be much fun from here on out, but I know it's for the best. So far I don't feel too terrible just doubling the night dose. I didn't even have the same issues with the SOB and chest pain as I did last time, we'll see into next week when I have doubled both doses.

In other exciting news, my handsome, amazing, miracle baby is ONE! He's such a joy! We had a great time. On his birthday he had his own little cake to smash, which went on a little too long and wasn't very happy once he got frosting in his eyes, poor thing. Then when we tried to give him a bath and that made him more upset. Oops! We had a great time on Saturday at his birthday party which we had at a nearby park. There was lots of shade and a little breeze, so it was totally bearable. I was touched that so many people came out to celebrate with us!

Hope to update more often!